An enormous amount of police time and resources go into traffic patrol, in which officers pull over motorists for infractions as minor as a single nonfunctioning taillight. Traffic stops have become police surveillance tools, a pretext to search vehicles for guns, drugs or other goods that might be stolen, illicit or dangerous. Court rulings interpreting […]

Fully a third of Missouri’s rural hospitals are in danger of closing in the next few years, leaving large swaths of the state without access to emergency services, obstetrics or even the most basic health care. It’s part of a national trend that qualifies as a looming crisis — one that might be addressed with […]